The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Know-the-Show Guide The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play Adapted by Joe Landry Directed by Doug West

------Know-the-Show Audience Guide researched and written by the Education Department of

Artwork by Scott McKowen The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Know-the-Show Guide

In this Guide

– From Card to Holiday Classic: An Introduction to It’s A Wonderful Life...... 2 – About the Creators...... 3 – It’s A Wonderful Life: A Short Synopsis...... 4 – Who’s Who in the Play...... 6 – The Radio Play...... 12 – Foley: The Art of Aural Illusions...... 12 – Commentary & Criticism...... 13 – In this Production...... 14 – Explore Online...... 15

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Additional support from Ruth Zowader and Philip Anderson

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strange gift by a mysterious man as he stands on a lonely bridge, contemplating From suicide one . Resigned to the fact the story would never be published, but determined to share it, had approximately 200 copies printed as small pamphlets, and was sent out to his friends and family as a sort of Christmas card that December. to Holiday Classic In March of 1944, Mr. Stern received a telegram from his agent, saying that An Introduction to a well-known Hollywood studio was interested in acquiring the rights to The Greatest Gift. The studio paid $10,000 for Mr. Stern’s “Christmas Card” and the It’s A Wonderful Life production process for what would become It’s a Wonderful Life had begun.

It was who came across the story and saw its potential. Capra had In 1938, Philip Van Doren Stern, a writer primarily known for his books on the just been honorably discharged from the military in 1943, and a friend had American Civil War, was struck with the idea for a short story. It had come forwarded him one of the pamphlets that Stern had printed. Capra reached out to him in a dream; complete and fully formed. Between 1938 and 1943, he to fellow WWII vet and Hollywood notable, Jimmy Stewart, with the idea of took a handful of passes at a rough Stewart starring in the picture. Stewart read the short story and by the spring of draft but was never quite satisfied. 1945, Capra had his George Bailey. It wasn’t until the spring of 1943 The Greatest Gift is a succinct and moving short story, but Capra knew it would that he felt comfortable enough require serious fleshing out and expansion to be a major motion picture. He with a draft to show it to his agent. brought in well-known screenwriters According to his notes, the agent Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett shopped the short manuscript from (The Thin Man, Father of the Bride, “The Saturday Evening Post to farm Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The journals,” and not a single soul was Diary of Anne Frank) to write the interested in publishing his unique screenplay. Filming began on April fantasy story. By this time, Stern 15, 1946 and on December 20, 1946 had fallen in love with this short It’s a Wonderful Life, starring Jimmy story. It centered around a bank Stewart and , premiered teller named George who is given a

A reproduction of the original Albert Hackett and Frances printing of Philip Van Doren Stern’s Goodrich, screenwriters for The Greatest Gift. It’s a Wonderful Life. 2 The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Know-the-Show Guide at The Globe Theatre in New York City. The movie was well received critically the company holding the film rights neglected to renew them. Mr. Stern had and was nominated for five Academy Awards that year, including Best Picture, renewed his story rights on The Greatest Gift in 1971, but the movie and its Best Director, and Best Actor. Though it did not receive any of these awards, it images had entered the public domain. It was during this time that it became did receive a special Technical Achievement Award for the process by which it the ubiquitous “Christmas movie” that many consider it today. Television created the snow effects on camera. Capra also received a Golden Globe for stations were free to show the movie without having to secure the rights, which Best Direction for the film. When reflecting back on his career, Jimmy Stewart meant they could show it whenever they wished without paying a licensing fee admitted that of all the films he had worked on,It’s a Wonderful Life was his to the studio. It also meant that companies involved in the burgeoning home favorite. Despite being considered one of the most critically acclaimed films of video market of the late 1970s and 1980s could all release their own versions all time and being ranked in the top 20 best films of all-time, RKO Studios, who of the classic film in an attempt to cash in on its newfound popularity. After a produced the film, recorded a box office loss of over $500,000 on the original court case in 1993 the rights were reacquired by Paramount and the movie was release of the picture. Though not the complete failure that some may state, it removed from the public domain. was a great disappointment for the studio.

This particular adaptation (there are at least three other stage adaptations of In the late 1940s and early 1950s there were the film) was three “Radio Play” versions of the movie that adapted and were produced, each featuring Jimmy Stewart and written by Joe Donna Reed reprising their roles as George and Landry and first Mary, but after a time it faded from the public produced at consciousness. In 1974, due to a clerical error, TheatreWorks in New Milford, Connecticut in 1996.

FAR LEFT: Original marketing poster for It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946. LOWER LEFT: Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed in the Frank Capra filmIt’s a Wonderful Life. ABOVE RIGHT: John Keabler and Susan Maris in the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s Main Stage production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Photo: Jerry Dalia, 2017. 3 The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Know-the-Show Guide

that a new movie studio was opening in San Francisco, he lied about his filmmaking experience in order to get a job. He directed his first motion picture in 1927 called For the Love of the Creators Mike starring then unknown actress About Claudette Colbert. Capra went on to become one of the most famous PHILIP VAN DOREN STERN directors of the 1930s and 1940s Philip Van Doren Stern was born in 1900 in winning three Oscars for Best Director Wyalusing, Pennsylvania and grew up in Brooklyn Frank Capra. for It Happened One Night, Mr. New York City. After graduating from Rutgers in Deeds Goes to Town, and You Can’t 1924, he began to work as a designer and editor Take It With You. In 1944 a friend gave Capra a copy of The Greatest Gift by in the publishing industry compiling anthologies Philip Van Doren Stern and he immediately set about acquiring the rights. Two and short stories of famous authors such as years later in December 1946, the film premiered at the Globe Theatre in New and Edgar Allen Poe. He was York. Unfortunately the film did not do well at the box office. However, this did best known, however, as the writer of over 40 not alter Capra’s view of the film or the story he had set out to illustrate: books on the Civil War and later as the author of a short story entitled The Greatest Gift. Philip Van Doren Stern. “It was the story I had been looking for all my life! What an idea. The kind of an idea that when I get old and sick and scared and “The Greatest Gift is as compelling today as it was ready to die, they’d still say, ‘He made The Greatest Gift.’” nearly seventy years ago because, in this story lies - Frank Capra a powerful message about the significance of the lives of all of us. As for its author Philip Van Doren Stern, I borrow a line from George JOE LANDRY Bailey’s brother Harry: ‘He was the richest man in town.’” From a young age playwright Joe Landry was exposed to classic films such asIt’s - Marguerite Stern Robinson a Wonderful Life and The Lady Vanishes, through his job in the film department FRANK CAPRA at his local library in Fairfield, Connecticut. His parents also encouraged him to go to the theatre both at home and in New York introducing him to works Frank Capra was born in Sicily, Italy in 1897 and moved to Los Angeles at five by Roundabout Theatre Company and Westport Country Playhouse. In 1995, years old. After high school, Capra joined the army and his first experience Joe founded his own theatre company called Second Guess Theatre Company with film was a short documentary film entitledLa Visita Dell’Incrociatore which produced over two dozen original plays, adaptations and revivals. Soon Italiano Libya a San Francisco that he filmed at 24 years old. When he heard

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afterwards, a friend asked him to adapt It’s a Wonderful Life for her high school theatre class and from there it was produced by TheatreWorks in New Milford, Connecticut and had its first professional production at the Westport Country Playhouse. Landry has since written other radio plays such as Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play, an adaptation of Reefer Madness, and War of the Worlds: A Live Radio Play an adaptation of the novel of the same name by H.G. Wells.

Joe Landry “Bringing Frank Capra’s classic film to the stage began almost twenty years ago when longtime friend and teacher Frances Kondziela asked me to pen an adaptation for her high school ensemble. After the premiere of this original incarnation, the piece was ABOVE: John Keabler (George) produced by TheatreWorks in New Milford, Connecticut, and Andy Patterson and was then chosen for its first professional production (Clarence).

at the legendary Westport Country Playhouse. When the LEFT: Tina Stafford budget of this (still full-scale, literally putting the film on (Ma Hatch), Susan Maris (Mary), John stage) production skyrocketed and was dropped from the Keabler (George). slate, the concept of staging the piece as a live radio play RIGHT: Leevell of the period was born. This radio play adaptation was Javon Johnson originally mounted at Stamford Center for the Arts in 1996, (Freddy Fillmore, the announcer). and has been performed there since with great success. It was at Stamford that the play was fine tuned and took All production shape as the piece published here. Through word of mouth photos from the 2017 Shakespeare alone, productions have since taken place around the Theatre of New Jersey country, including the noted Chicago premiere at American Theatre production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Company. My thanks to all those who have been involved since the Radio Play. Photos: beginning of the this journey.” Jerry Dalia. - Joe Landry, August, 2006 from the introduction to the script 5 The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Know-the-Show Guide

FUN FILM FACTS background on George’s life in an

attempt to help with the case, and -The film was originally scheduled to be It’s a Wonderful through Clarence and Joseph we released in January of 1947, but the date jump through George’s life, seeing was pushed to December of 1946 so it the high and low points that have would be eligible for the 1946 Academy Life lead him to this fateful moment on Awards. the bridge. A Short Synopsis -In May of 1947, the FBI issued a memo insinuating that the film may We see George as a boy, saving his be Communist propaganda, due to its Please note: Below is a full summary of the play. If you prefer not to younger brother from drowning, depiction of wealthy banker, Henry spoil the plot, consider skipping this section. dreaming of adventure, and Potter, as the villain. preventing his heartbroken boss, -It was Frank Capra’s first film after Set in the fictional live broadcast studio of WBFR in New York City,It’s a Mr. Gower, from accidentally spending time in the US Army making poisoning one of his pharmacy Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play presents the story of Frank Capra’s It’s a documentaries and propaganda films patients. We see him meet, court Wonderful Life in the form of a 1940s radio play. At the top of the show, each during WWII. actor is introduced to the audience and the radio play begins: and fall in love with his future wife, Mary Hatch. We’re with

George Bailey is in trouble. It’s Christmas Eve in Bedford Falls, New York and him through the death of his father, the depression inspired “run” on his family’s he is standing on the edge of a bridge, wondering what his life is worth and Building and Loan business, and his run-ins with Mr. Potter, the meanest man in contemplating ending it all. Bedford Falls.

Clarence Oddbody, All of this leads George to the edge of the bridge, and his contemplation of the Second Class is called to icy water below. He believes he’s worth more dead than alive, and in a moment speak with his supervisor, of desperation, wishes out loud that he had never been born. Clarence uses his Joseph, about a man named powers as George’s guardian angel to grant that particular wish, and George George Bailey. Clarence, is given the rare gift of seeing just how much of an impact one good man can eager to please Joseph and have on the people and the world around him. Seeing what would happen to hopeful that he might finally the people and the town he loves if he hadn’t been born, George experiences earn his coveted wings, a profound change of heart and begs Clarence to undo his wish. His guardian agrees to take the case. angel complies, and George is returned to the reality he had previously turned Joseph offers Clarence some his back on, armed with a renewed sense of his self-worth and a determination to make the most of the life and the opportunities he’s been gifted with. 6 The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Know-the-Show Guide

wrapped in a newspaper. Knowing the damage Billy’s mistake would have on the Building & Loan and George, Potter keeps the money, certain of his triumph over the Baileys. Who’sin the WhoRadio Play “I’m on a very tight schedule – a family to evict at three.” CLARENCE ODDBODY - Clarence is an Angel Second Class looking to get his wings. He is sent to stop George from taking his life. GEORGE BAILEY - The hero of the story, George is a man with big dreams “Remember, no man is a failure who has friends.” of travel and adventure. When circumstances conspire against his plans, George remains in his small hometown, where he runs his father’s business JOSEPH - “The Superintendent of ,” Joseph assigns Clarence to George’s and starts a family. Unfortunate events eventually lead him to question the case, and leads him through the moments of George’s life that have led him value of his very existence, believing he’s worth more dead than alive. to the bridge on that fateful Christmas Eve. “I want to do something big, something important.” “Well, you do a good job with George Bailey, and we’ll see about your wings.” MARY HATCH - Mary is a young woman who has been smitten with George ever since she was a girl. Her faith in George never wavers and she OTHER MEMBERS OF THE BEDFORD FALLS COMMUNITY: eventually marries him. Peter and Rose Bailey - George’s parents; Peter started the Building & Loan. “Remember the night we broke the windows in this old house? This is what I wished for.” Peter, Tommy, Janie, and ZuZu Bailey - George and Mary’s children.

UNCLE BILLY - Uncle Billy is George’s uncle and partner at the Building & Sam Wainright - A local kid who got out of town and made his fortune. As a Loan. A gentle but forgetful man, Billy misplaces an $8,000 deposit which teenager, he dated Mary. could prove to be the end of the Baileys and the Building & Loan. “George, what’s the combination to the safe?” Violet Bick - A childhood friend of George’s who has big dreams of leaving Bedford Falls for a more glamorous life. HARRY BAILEY - George’s kid brother, Harry seems to live the life George dreams of. It is Harry who goes off to college, who becomes a war hero, Edwina “Ma” Hatch - Mary’s nosey mother. who marries and moves out of town despite promises to come home to take over the family business. Mr. Gower - The local pharmacist that young George Bailey works for. “George... You’ve been holding the bag here for four years, and... well, I won’t let you down.” Ernie - The local cab driver and family friend of the Bailey’s.

HENRY POTTER - The richest and meanest man in town, Potter has his hands Bert - A police office in town; friend of the Bailey’s. in virtually every business, bank, and institution, except the Bailey Building & Loan. Despite several attempts to crush George’s business, Potter has Giuseppe Martini - Owner of the local bar; he owns his own home thanks to always failed, until Uncle Billy mistakenly gives Potter an $8,000 deposit help from George Bailey and the Building & Loan. 7 The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Know-the-Show Guide The Radio Play

The first radio drama broadcast in the USA was in 1921 when agricultural professors from University performed “A Rural Line on Education” on KDKA in Pittsburgh. One year later in 1922, when WGY Schenectady, New York successfully broadcast a full length radio play for the first time (including a cast of actors and live sound effects), radio plays and dramas became a regular feature on the radio. Soon, they were broadcast every week with plays from Shakespeare, Ibsen and Chekhov, and as a result playwrights and dramatists began to write for this new medium too. Perhaps the most famous example is Orson Welles’ The War of the Worlds (an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel of the same name) which was performed on the radio on October 30, 1938. The performance was so convincing that many people believed that an invasion from Mars was truly happening!

By the 1940s, the radio was an essential item in every household and the radio play and drama continued to thrive. Writers such as Rod Serling, Samuel Beckett, and later Harold Pinter wrote specifically for this medium to great success as well as writing for stage and television. Famous films and novels were also adapted into radio plays such as It’s a Wonderful Life in 1947 and 1951 with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed reprising their roles as George and Mary Bailey. Unfortunately, with the invention of the television and its subsequent rise in popularity, the radio became a secondary form of entertainment, as did the radio play.

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FOOTSTEPS: Foley studios carry a number of different shoes and surfaces on which to create realistic and unique sounds of footfalls. Surfaces may include wood floors, gravel, marble hallways, etc., all to create the desired sound for that moment. MOVES: These are more subtle sounds such as clothes swishing or brushing The Art of Aural Illusions against one another used to elevate the auditory experience of the film. Foley SPECIFICS: These are effects such as doorbells, slamming doors, train whistles, and car engines. Many of these can be achieved digitally today. Foley Artist is a title given to one who creates specialized sound effects for radio, television, or film. Named after the late Jack Foley who was one of the Here are some of the effects used in It’s a Wonderful Life: first to sound artists to augment sound in the film industry (and lateradio) r 1. Shoes in a tray of Corn Flakes to simulate walking on snow. when he worked on Showboat in 1929, one of the first films to include sound. 2. Twisting/cracking a thin piece of wood to simulate the cracking of ice The use of sound in film was revolutionary at the time but the technology was 3. Dropping broken light bulbs into a box with a heavy weight in it to sound quite new. Initially, the sounds in a film would rarely sound the same way they like someone throwing a rock through a window. do to us in real life. Foley, through continual creation and innovation, had to 4. Dropping uncooked lima beans and breaking one open to simulate dropping master new ways to make realistic sound effects and sync them up with the a pill bottle and then breaking open the capsule to test the medicine inside. films; everything from slamming doors, car horns, bird songs, train whistles,and 5. Using a rotating wooden drum rubbing against sailcloth (canvas) to sound even footsteps. It’s rumored that he walked 5,000 miles doing “footsteps” like the wind. The speed of the rotation can change the pitch and ferocity of alone. the wind. 6. Running a thumb down a small comb to sound like crickets. While this may seem like an old fashioned way to produce a desired sound 7. Constructing small doors (one wooden and one metal), with all the st effect in the 21 century, many of Foley’s techniques are still used today by appropriate hardware, handles, etc., to sound like house or car doors. artists in the film and recording industries. Once a film is completed, theoley F Artist watches it through and rehearses the sound effects that are needed. Then Famous Foley Effects: they go into a studio with props and sound equipment to record the effects. Ultimately, the aim of the Foley Artist is to create an effect so seamless that the -Frozen romaine lettuce makes bone or head injury noises. audience does not notice that it has been added in post production. -A pair of gloves sounds like birds wings flapping.

-Coconut shells cut in half and stuffed with padding sounds like horses hooves, There are three primary categories of Foley effects: footsteps, moves, and which is parodied in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. specifics.

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ABOUT THE FILM: Commentary “Bedford Falls is a middle-class town, but there are working-class people—such as Ernie and Martini—who can barely afford a house. Without George Bailey, the two would wind up living in run-down rental shacks with nothing to show Criticism for their blue-collar work. But Potter thinks that the working class should be ‘thrifty.’ He questions why people can’t just be more disciplined and save money, the same way people with means today wonder why anyone would take out ABOUT THE RADIO PLAY: something as awful as a payday loan.” – Bouree Lam “Critic’s choice!& Preserves the heart of darkness in Capra’s fable, making its faux “It’s a Wonderful Life is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and radio version a compelling Christmas show piece.” – Time Out Magazine relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your father driven to the grave before his time, of living among bitter, small-minded people. It is a story of being trapped, “Terrific! The best holiday choice around! The classic move retold through this of compromising, of watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so clever faux period broadcast, a genre it seems to fit with remarkable ease. If filled with rage that you verbally abuse your children, their teacher and your you cry every time you see the movie, you’ll be blubbering away right on cue. oppressively perfect wife. It is also a nightmare account of an endless home Guaranteed. You might well be blubbering more. The kind of old-fashioned, renovation.” – Wendell Jamieson personalized holiday environment that we all crave but usually fail to find. Exceptional! Works beautifully.” – Chicago Tribune “Heroically putting others first, George has both accomplished and gained much of lasting value, from his loving wife and family to the thriving community of “In this Wonderful Life, the actors begin standing in front of microphones, homeowners in Bailey Park who no longer rent in the slums of Potter’s Field.” – scripts in hand, but they are soon moving about and interacting in lively, Steven D. Greydanus realistic ways, with the help of only the radio-age equivalent of sound design. And it’s easy for the audience to get caught up in the fun of creating reality “George represents the vision of post-war America: the ambition to alter the from obvious artifice.” – Anita Gates,The New York Times landscape so as to accommodate modern life, to uproot nature and replace it with monuments of human accomplishment, to re-engineer life for mobility FROM AFTERWORD TO THE GREATEST GIFT: and swiftness, one unencumbered by permanence, one no longer limited to a moderate and comprehensible human scale.” – Patrick J. Deneen “My father would be very happy to know that The Greatest Gift and It’s a Wonderful Life live on—even in our day. People today still think of, cite, write, “While George’s grandiose designs are thwarted, he does not cease to be argue, and perhaps learn from those living in the fictional Bedford Falls so ambitious, and does not abandon the dream of transforming America, even if many decades ago. The film and the story on which it is based have reached his field of dreams is narrowed. Rather, his ambitions are channeled into the and influenced millions of people. I am one of them… George Bailey, Mr. only available avenue that life and his position now offer: he creates not airfields Potter, Mary, Clarence, Frank Capra, and of course my father have had a major nor skyscrapers nor modern cities, but remakes Bedford Falls itself.” – Patrick J. effect on my life in microbanking— which continues still.” Deneen – Marguerite Stern Robinson 10 The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Know-the-Show Guide

In this Production

Color Set rendering by scenic designer, Charlie Calvert and Costume renderings by Natalie Loveland for the 2017 Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.

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Explore Online

Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart discuss the making of It’s a Wonderful Life hosted by Frank Capra, Jr.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhaKfDyRoH4

“Back on the Old Mic” – a 1938 video illustrating what a radio play looks like in the studio versus what a child hears and imagines as a result: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75tZRA8Jdds&t=420s

An excerpt from The Dean Martin Show where Orson Welles narrates a story while Dean Martin attempts to perform the correct Foley sound effects using a variety of props: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypQP7Uf-fc4&t=430s

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